Poly(arylene ether) resins have been blended with polyamide resins to provide compositions having a wide variety of beneficial properties such as heat resistance, chemical resistance, impact strength, hydrolytic stability, and dimensional stability.
Glass fiber-filled poly(arylene ether)-polyamide blends have been used to mold insulation materials that are incorporated into door and window frames in order to decrease their thermal conductivity. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,356 to Ensinger et al., and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2006/0234034 A1 of Tschech et al. These insulation materials provide significant improvements in the energy efficiency of the doors and windows into which they are incorporated. However, there remains a need for further reductions in the thermal conductivity of doors and windows, as well as means of achieving such thermal conductivity reductions with reduced amounts of poly(arylene ether) and polyamide.